An innovative model for compassion-based leadership is taking root in Berkeley, CA schools.

What if leadership was grounded in compassion? What if leaders were recognized for their ability to meditate, collaborate with others, and be of service to their community?

Vlad Moskovski of Berkeley, California has the belief that in order to solve the complex problems our world is facing, we need a new generation of leaders with a high degree of emotional intelligence who work collaboratively towards the greater good. He also believes that schools are failing to provide children with the mindfulness, empathy and service learning skills they need to become such leaders of the future.

Plenty of scientific research shows that Moskovski is onto something. Studies indicate that anxiety and stress are undermining children’s ability to learn while hampering their ability to control their emotions and engage in effective relationships with others. At the same time, lack of purpose and motivation are negatively impacting youth’s self esteem and social competency.

In Spring 2013 Moskovski decided to take action and founded Compassionate Leaders, an after school program for teenagers that combines mindfulness meditation, leadership development skills, and local community service projects.

With the help of a growing network of supporters, Vlad was able to start a pilot program at Berkeley High school in the Fall of 2013. The twelve teenagers who enrolled in the pilot worked collaboratively to learn and practice mindfulness techniques, public speaking, empathic interpersonal communication, and project management skills. From the beginning students were encouraged to put in practice what they were learning by leading each other in mindfulness practices and applying their skills directly to benefit local community organizations.

“I use the skills all the time, especially in the connections I make with other people” says Emeric Laverne, a High School senior who took part in the pilot program. ”Keeping these practices in my life makes me a much happier person” he adds.

Through this experience, students developed skills to deeply connect with themselves, each other, and their local community an emerged motivated to keep putting in practice what they have learned. Parents, educators and more teens started hearing about Compassionate Leaders and became interested in the program At the end of 2013, Kumu, a Berkeley based innovation lab for transformative activism awarded Compassionate Leaders a full incubation program to help Moskovski's idea grow and propagate.

It is too early to measure the impact of Compassionate Leaders, but research shows that mindfulness reduces anxiety, improves emotional intelligence and grows the hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with learning and memory. Studies also show that service learning boosts teenager’s self esteem, sense of responsibility and are more likely to become active, positive contributors to society.

A second semester of the Compassionate Leaders program is already underway at Berkeley High School, and with great anticipation teachers from 3 other local high schools have reached out to bring the program to their leaning centers. To achieve this goal, Moskovski is hoping to crowd fund the necessary money.

“I don’t have all the answers, but I know that in order to create a better future we need a new generation of leaders” says Moskovski “Leaders like these are sitting in the classrooms all around the world, most of them unaware of their full potential.”

-----

Compassionate Leaders is an incubated project of Kumu, an innovation Lab for transformative activism, and receives 501(c)3 nonprofit status through its fiscal sponsor, the Buckminster Fuller Institute.

I am a Yoga Professional, Parent Education, Stress and Back Pain expert as seen on TV, radio and print. As an entreprenueur and networker I have founded and faciliated many businesses and projects. Currently developing the Yoga ... moreI am a Yoga Professional, Parent Education, Stress and Back Pain expert as seen on TV, radio and print. As an entreprenueur and networker I have founded and faciliated many businesses and projects. Currently developing the Yoga Professional Academy, International Yoga Therapy Standards implementation and am working on the documentray film "Not Alone" about teenage suicide prevention, directed by a teenager and professionally produced.